When working on a project, you might get stuck. Everyone will give you different advice on what to do in those situations, but, just find the one that keeps you writing. Here’s what I do when I get stuck.
Skip that bit.
Especially in the first draft, I use this advice for names of people, things, places, etc. If there’s something I know I want to really spend some time researching a cool, meaningful name, I’ll put something like [INSERT BOAT #2 NAME] right there in the first draft.
Screenshot from the first draft of The Rose Weapon sequel.
Then I just keep going.
That’s the important part. I don’t just hop over to Google and search “awesome viking boat names,” because if I did, it would be at least thirty minutes before I started writing again. Just put in those placeholders and keep going.
This works for entire scenes too.
I’m an outliner, but recently I came to a part of my story that didn’t play out exactly how I had outlined it. I really liked the new version though, but that meant I needed to rework this scene from what I imagined.
After a few weeks of frustration and not writing anything, I skipped it. The whole scene. I made a note to come back to it and then just picked up with the next scene and kept going. Then, when I finished the first draft, I went back and found it much easier to finish that scene.
So, if the writing gets hard, skip that bit, finish your draft, and come back to it later.
Jump. Build, Fly.
F.C. Shultz